Today, North Carolina’s Welcome Centers mark 45 years of service, both to the state’s thousands of small tourism-related businesses and to millions of visitors each year. On Aug. 1, 1968, the I-85 North Welcome Center in Warren County opened, followed on Aug. 30 by the I-95 North Welcome Center in Northampton County. At the time, Gov. Dan Moore said the opening of these two Welcome Centers “is one of the most progressive steps taken by this administration to encourage and promote tourism.” Moore said then that domestic visitors spent $635 million and supported 100,000 North Carolina jobs in 1967, a stark contrast with the record $19.4 billion in visitor spending supporting nearly 200,000 jobs in 2012 that Gov. Pat McCrory announced in May.
Today, the Division’s nine Welcome Centers promote thousands of tourism-related businesses – attractions, accommodations, events and more – and provide personalized customer service to visitors actually in North Carolina and actively seeking travel information. Located on interstate highways just inside the state line, each Welcome Center has a statewide focus, with an emphasis on information for visitors traveling a particular interstate corridor. Welcome Centers are located on I-26 in (opened in 1982) and Madison (2003) counties; I-40 in Haywood County (1970); I-77 in Mecklenburg (1985) and Surry (1982) counties; I-85 in Cleveland (1972) and Warren (1968) counties; and I-95 in Northampton (1968) and Robeson (1973) counties.
At each center, professional, nationally-certified travel counselors provide personalized customer service and distribute the state’s Official North Carolina Travel Guide, the Dept. of Transportation’s official state map and other marketing publications from partners exclusively about North Carolina; offer detailed travel information in clean, modern facilities; and book room reservations at no charge for visitors staying overnight in North Carolina. The Welcome Centers are open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily. The centers are closed on New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
To view a small archive of newspaper clippings and photographs – such as one featuring some of North Carolina’s first travel counselors as they admire then-travel director Bill Hensley’s personalized license plate – regarding the history of North Carolina’s Welcome Centers, click here. For more information about the Welcome Centers or to have your brochure considered for distribution in the Welcome Centers, contact Visitor Services Program Manager Wally Wazan at (919) 715-2098.